The Underlying Process of Prosocial Behavior Among Soldiers: A Terror Management Theory Perspective

The mortality salience (MS) hypothesis postulates that anxiety elicited by mortality awareness leads people to develop negative emotions toward those who hold values inconsistent with their worldview faith. We explored this hypothesis in a sample of 76 Israeli combat soldiers, who were asked to reflect on either their mortality or dental pain. Subsequently, participants reported their motivation to help a father in need who was either an Arab (outgroup) or a Jewish Israeli (ingroup), as well as their perceptions of threat by Arab Israelis. Regression analysis indicated that mortality reminders intensified soldiers’ perception of threat by the outgroup, leading to an increased desire to assist a Jewish-Israeli father, and a decreased motivation to help an Arab-Israeli one. The findings demonstrate the pronounced effects of MS on soldiers involved in frequent combat actions in terms of evoking negative emotions leading to reluctance to help unarmed civilian outgroup members. Recommendations for soldiers’ pre-deployment psychoeducation sessions are provided.

Self-Medication Practices in Pokhara: A Study of Knowledge and Purpose among Non-Medical Students

This study has tried to assess the self-medication practice among non-medical students. For this purpose, data were collected from 206 Bachelor’s and Master’s level students by using self-administered questionnaire at Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara. Quick relief from pain is one of the reasons for self-medication, followed by previous experiences of illness, pharmacist’s advice, ease and convenience and time saving. The majority of students has been practiced self-medication to treat headache (62.9%), fever (32.7%), gastric acidity (23.9%), cough (27.3%), common cold (34%), dental pain (18.5%) and dandruff (24.4%). Almost two fifth of the respondents (37.37%) had knowledge regarding the composition of drugs and minority (8.74%) that had knowledge about dose, content, therapy duration and reaction of the drug. In addition, the majority of the respondents practiced Antipyretic (38.6%) followed by analgesics (33.4%), general antibiotics (17.7%) and anti-ulcerants (14.1%) without proper consultation with professionals. The findings of the study showed that non-medical students had self-medication practices, depending on their age, gender and academic level. Due to a high level of practice on self-medication, the study recommended that the concerned authority should formulate a set of rules and implement to prevent such practices in the university, providing adequate facilities for healthcare medical treatment.

Using Herbal Medicine for Dental Pain in Saudi Arabia: Prevalence and Knowledge Assessment

Background: The dental community has started to use natural plant properties to relieve dental pain. Besides their significant serious side effect, Herb’s ingredients should be chosen wisely. However, many studies are conducted to find out the herb’s information due to the lack of randomized controlled clinical trials. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the knowledge of the effect of using herbal medicine for dental pain among Saudi population. Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia between September 2020 and October 2021. based on a structured questionnaire among Saudi populations. Structured self-administrated questionnaires in English and Arabic languages were used as a study tool. Authors collected the information using social media channels through google forms. SPSS 26 was used for data entry and data analysis. Results: The study included 4213 participants. 25% of study sample were males and 75% were females. 51.6% aged between 20- 30 years old. 61.8% of all participants use herbs to relieve toothache (82% of them use clove or clove oil and 36% use thyme). Think herbs are safe and free from side effects in treating toothache. 8% noticed side effects or damage while using herbs to relieve dental pain (27% of them swelling, 21% sharp stomach pain, 21% hypersensitive and 17% bleeding). Conclusion: The Saudi population show relatively good knowledge level and practice towards herbs use in dentistry. The use of herbs to relieve toothache was significantly associated with female gender, age, residence area in western region and average monthly income.

The influence of change on sense of coherence on dental services use among adolescents: a two-year prospective follow-up study

Background To investigate the influence of change on sense of coherence (SOC) on dental services use in adolescents over a two-year period. Methods A prospective follow-up study was conducted involving 334 12-year-old adolescents from public schools in the city of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The predictors of use of dental services in the last 12 months were selected according to the Andersen’s behavioural theoretical model. The predisposing factors included sex, self-reported skin colour and SOC. The enabling factors were dental insurance, monthly family income and parents/guardians schooling. Dental pain, perceived oral health status, dental caries and gingival status were used to assess need factors. Multivariable Poisson regression with robust variance was used to estimate incidence-rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals between the independent variables and use of dental services. Results Adolescent’s SOC scores decreased significantly between baseline and one-year follow-up. SOC decline decreased the likelihood of using dental services in the last 12 months (IRR = 0.96 95%CI 0.92–0.99). Dental caries (IRR = 1.03 95%CI 1.01–1.04) and gingival bleeding (IRR = 1.01 95%CI 1.01–1.02) remained associated with use of dental services in the last 12 months. Adolescents with dental pain were more likely to have visited a dentist in the last year (IRR = 1.03, 95%CI 1.01–1.06). Conclusion SOC decrease over one-year period was a meaningful factor of dental services use among 12-year-old adolescents. Dental pain and clinical conditions were also relevant factors that can influence use of dental services in this group.

Trend on dental caries status and its risk indicators in children aged 12 years in China: a multilevel analysis based on the repeated national cross-sectional surveys in 2005 and 2015

Background This study aimed to explore the trend and risk indicators for dental caries of children aged 12 years in China based on national oral health survey data in 2005 and 2015. Methods Research data were from the two latest national oral health surveys conducted in mainland China, including 30 and 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in 2005 and 2015, respectively. Children aged 12 years were clinically examined for dental caries and dental fluorosis according to the World Health Organization criteria. Sociodemographic characteristics and oral health-related behaviours were collected using questionnaires. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial regression model was used to investigate the association between dental caries severity and dental fluorosis, sociodemographic characteristics, and oral health-related behaviours. Results The final analyses included 12,350 and 27,818 children surveyed in 2005 and 2015, respectively. The standardized prevalence of dental caries increased from 27.05% (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.25-28.85) in 2005 to 37.92% (95% CI, 34.94-40.90) in 2015, and the respective standardized mean decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) index scores increased from 0.50 (standard deviation [SD], 1.04) to 0.83 (SD, 1.45) (P < 0.001). Fujian province had the highest increase in dental caries, followed by Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Hainan, and Yunnan. Results revealed that children who were girls, more frequently experienced dental pain, and had more recent dental visits, had significantly higher DMFT scores after adjusting for the survey year and other variables (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Dental caries of 12-year-old children in China deteriorated from 2005 to 2015, particularly in the northeast and southwest regions. Dental caries was associated with sex, dental pain, and dental service utilization.

Essential Oils in Treatment and Management of Dental Diseases

Essential oils have considerable potential as a preventive and therapeutic agent against various oral diseases and, in particular dental diseases. Wider potential of essential oils as an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent is mainly responsible for their use in dental diseases. In the present review article, commonly used essential oils in dentistry have been explained systematically. The therapeutic efficacies of different essential oils in different dental diseases, viz. periodontitis, dental erosion, dental caries, dental pain, gingivitis, and plaque, have been discussed extensively. Finally, patents filed by various innovators on essential oils-based formulations and their applications in dental care have been well tabulated. In conclusion, essential oils have significant the potential for the management and treatment of various dental diseases. However, various preclinical and clinical studies supporting the safety and efficacy of essential oils must be performed for regulatory compliance and commercial exploitation of essential oil-based formulations.

Translation and Validation of the Short Form of the Fear of Dental Pain Questionnaire in China

The short form of the Fear of Dental Pain Questionnaire (s-FDPQ) is a validated measure developed to screen patients for their fear of pain associated with dental procedures. As there is a high prevalence of dental fear/anxiety in Chinese adults, the primary aim of our study was to translate the s-FDPQ into standard Mandarin and explore its reliability and validity with Chinese adults. The second aim of our study was to explore fear of dental pain (FDP) scores in relation to dental attendance, anxiety and gender. We translated the s-FDPQ using the forward-backward method. It was completed by 480 Chinese adults alongside the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS; Chinese version) to test convergent validity. 109 participants completed the s-FDPQ again 14 days later to evaluate test-retest reliability. The Chinese s-FDPQ (s-CFDPQ) was internally consistent (alpha = 0.87) and demonstrated convergent validity (r = 0.73 when correlated with the MDAS). Test-retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.86). Individuals who had never attended the dentist (22%) had higher FDP scores than those that had, even if they were not dentally anxious. Also, females reported higher FDP scores (p &lt; 0.001). These findings suggest that the s-CFDPQ is a reliable and valid measure for assessing fear of dental pain in Chinese adults. The s-CFDPQ could allow quick identification of individuals who are fearful of dental pain who may require specialist attention.